help introducing a kitten and a wiener dog!

ok so i rescued a kitten only about 8 weeks old, she checked out great at the vet! so now came introducing her to the dogs.. my wiener dog is about 3 years old and is obssesing about getting to the kitten, to the point he wont even eat! it took us about 3 days to get the cat used to us, so now she is basically living in just one bedroom of the house, but the dog camps out and scrathes and cries to get in here. the cats reactions are pretty normal, kind of ignores him then hisses and spats, the tries to run off... i need help will me wiener dog ever calm down!

Well, the kitten is still VERY small, and Dachshunds are a hunting breed, bred specifically to hunt small furry things. I wouldn't try to introduce them until the kitten is large enough to defend itself. Maybe 4-5 months old, depending how big he/she is at that time.

I don't know what you can so about the dog obsessing over the kitty. Some dogs are just obsessive.

I have an American Pit Bull Terrier and he's fine with our cats.. Sometimes he wants to play with them but I don't allow it because even as adults the cats' bodies are too fragile for such a breed of dog, though one of my cats is an instigator lol.. What you can do is try desensitizing your dog to your cats and in turn visa versa. Give your cat a bowl of wet cat food (or get it to stay in a "sit stay" or "down stay" position depending on whether he/she's trained or not) and get a gentle leader head collar or Halti for your dog. Walk past the cat with the gentle leader on and as soon as/if your dog begins to obsess over the cat, walk backwards (keep your body facing the cat) so your dog ends up facing you (walking away from the cat) and give him a treat. You're basically teaching the dog that if he looks away from the cat, there's a treat waiting for him, so why even bother looking at the cats right. I've used this method and know several others who have as well with much success.

Remember, if your dog obsesses over the cats or chases them or anything like that, don't punish him for it or he might resent or fear them. Give him something else to do and reward him (for example, call him over to you, make him do some tricks and reward him for them). This way eventually when he sees the cats he'll realize there's treats/rewards in store for him if he comes to YOU instead

Good luck and be safe!

I have a doxie too and our new kitten is smaller than him and they play just fine together I would probably wait till your kitten gets bigger because if your doxie is anything like him there will be some kitty flipping going on.But other than that expect the obsessive behavior doxies are tenacious lil devils and what they want they are determined to get at any costs...Dont worry all will be well just constantly supervise any interaction they have your kitten will find out soon enough how to defend itself against your doxie..I know mine has her own way of pouncing on top of Franklin and letting him have it LOL!!!

My sister's doxie met our outside cat Ginger about 2 weeks ago--she didn't think he'd ever seen a cat before and he was afraid of her. Ginger had no issue with Web in fact I think she would have liked to show him around and play alittle--she's very laid back and also shows no aggression to any of our inside cats either.

Leslie

I would go as far as to say that introducing them while the kitten is still young is vital. But it all depends on the dog...

For example, I have a 70lb Lab - excellent bird instincts and actually chases rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks. But I knew she would be fine around a kitten...turns out I was right.

This was day 3 after introducing them, he (the kitten) will now only sleep with my pup.



They play together a lot (even though I got another kitten as a play mate for my little guy) and whenever I go to pick him up he's completely wet in dog saliva.